SANFORD, Fla. — An effort started by a major credit card company in 2010 to help small businesses stay afloat who were struggling because of the recession is in full swing.
- Small Business Saturday celebrates 9 years
- Palate Coffee Brewery was inspired to help end human trafficking
- Proceeds go to end the trade and bring awareness
Celebrating it's 9th year, Small Business Saturday comes with a lot of discounts for those looking to support their neighborhood businesses.
Katrina Lemmon says her business Palate Coffee Brewery is inspired by her love for coffee and her mother's experience being trafficked as a child.
Since opening shop three years ago, all proceeds of the business goes toward efforts to end human trafficking and awareness.
“A lot of our volunteers were customers. They came in to get coffee and liked what we were doing,” she explains.
Palate Coffee Brewery is completely run by volunteers, a shop with heart and a cause.
The smell of coffee is what attracted Danet Fuller to stop by but she didn't know at the time that she was walking into an experience rather than a regular coffee shop. It didn't take long for Fuller to go from being a customer to a volunteer.
“Most small businesses have a heart, compared to something on a grander scale,” Fuller says.
Small Business Saturday is much more than a day of shopping Lemmon says, it's about getting to know the person behind the business.
“That five dollars you come and spend, goes back to so much more than if you shop at a big chain. For us it's really important. We try with everything we do to shop small,” Lemmon adds.
The US Department of Labor reports small businesses like this one employ more than 55 million people and account for nearly half of the job growth in the country. According to the National Federation of Independent Business and AMEX, 108 million shoppers spent about 12.9 million dollars during Small Business Saturday last year.